After months of negotiations and political wrangling - Aer Lingus is now officially set to join IAG as more than 95 percent of its shareholders have backed the deal.
A statement from IAG has confirmed that the acquisition of the airline is now set in stone following Ryanair's formal backing of the takeover.
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh says that the deal will mean - new routes - more jobs - better services for customers - and more tourism for Ireland.
There are still a few formalities to be carried out before Aer Lingus actually becomes part of IAG.
The group intends to have Aer Lingus delisted from the Dublin and London stock exchanges by no later than September 17th.
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German retailers Lidl and Aldi have been called on to pay higher prices to milk suppliers in Ireland, following a commitment to pay minimum prices of 28p - or 40 cent - per litre in the UK.
That is up from an average of 23 pence - the move came after a sustained protest campaign by British farmers across the UK.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association has said that the supermarkets should not differentiate their prices between Britain and Ireland.
It claims suppliers are paid significantly more in the UK - and that the prices paid to Irish suppliers has fallen by 35 percent over the last year - while the price paid by consumers has stayed the same.
Aldi Ireland has said that it is already paying above the market price for milk in Ireland - while Lidl has not commented on the issue.
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Irish banks are cleaning up their balance sheets - they have been the 4th largest seller of loans in Europe so far in 2015.
This is according to new figures released by Price Waterhouse Cooper, some €7.5 billion in loan sales were completed by Irish banks during the first 6 months of this year.
This puts Ireland behind only the UK, Germany and Italy.
Loans transacted during the first half of the year include the sale of two major NAMA portfolios - and Permanent TSB’s sale of half of its UK residential portfolio to Cerberus for €3.5 billion.
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The Financial Times repots this morning that there is a surge of capital flowing out of world’s emerging economies - and that as the global economy enters its next phase, these markets could be left behind.
Over the past 13 months $1 trillion has rushed out of China, India and Latin America.
A period of slow growth and currency volatility has undermined confidence in the world’s main emerging markets – who until recently have been viewed as the main sources of future global economic growth.
The recent currency shocks in China have highlighted the weakness of these economies - and they are also expected to be the big losers when the Fed's interest rate hike comes later in the year.
